Yes, I came across notices of this naturem stuck on the side of main frames in my computng days.Another one read, "We have acheived a perfect harmony between theory and practice: nothing works, and we don't know why."

Oh well, as you put it so authoritively, I should accept that what you say must be true, shouldn't I? I should add that I have found that people who express themselves with arrogant and condescending assurance are at least sometimes themselves in error. So, if it's alright with you, I will continue to think for myself, and treat language as the continuously evolving entity that it most certainly is (please excuse my arrogance in saying so), not attempt to place language in an amber prison, where many people seem to want to keep it.Please understand that I'm not saying you are wrong in your assertion, only that nothing is ever certain in the field of human endeavours.Sam

It may be best that you should tell me, whether or not I am talking about Publius Ovidius Naso. All I know, without embarking on more research, is the attribution I put in my signature, that the quotation came from "Metamorphoses Book XV".

I had not realised that there may have been more than one 'Ovid'. I s this so? If so, I suppose I should be more careful when delving into areas of literature that I am largely ignorant of.

Yes, Publius Ovidius Naso was the Ovid who wrote the Metamorphoses. I just wondered about your comment about your classical education being more Latin than Greek and using that as a reason for not having read Ovid.

Oh well, as you put it so authoritively, I should accept that what you say must be true, shouldn't I?

You're not under any obligation to accept anything from anybody. You asked a question and I answered it to the best of my abilities. Have a nice day.

I should add that I have found that people who express themselves with arrogant and condescending assurance are at least sometimes themselves in error.

I'm a little less well done than those folks. When I am in error, and somebody proves it, I apologize and move on. If you nose about in the archives to this site, you may find evidence of that.

Funny how online communication is so fraught with the risk of unmeaning. When you swooped in and made your bold assertions that marble and marmalade were related, I took it that you were one of these people who could not be bothered to be confused by the facts and who had already made up his mind about the relationship between the two words.I tend to run into folks like this from time to time on various Web forums. They are not swayed by any sort of argumentation. Sorry to have wasted your time.

So, if it's alright with you, I will continue to think for myself, and treat language as the continuously evolving entity that it most certainly is (please excuse my arrogance in saying so), not attempt to place language in an amber prison, where many people seem to want to keep it.

Another non-sequitur? (Faldo, I think, was confused when you said you had studied Latin and not Greek, because Naso (there is only one author I am aware of with this name) was a Roman poet who wrote in Latin.) I, too, know that language is constantly changing, but that has little to do with whether or why marble and marmalade are related or not. You could look up the etymologies of these two words in any moderately popular dictionary and see that for yourself.

Please understand that I'm not saying you are wrong in your assertion, only that nothing is ever certain in the field of human endeavours.

Well that's a relief. And I was just saying that given the historical evidence of the two words and what I, and others, know of the historical-comparative method, I find it highly unlikely that the two words are related historically.

By the way, welcome to the board and I hope, in spite of my presence, that you will have a good time here. I'll try not to annoy you any further with answers to your questions.

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